1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is a method of identifying an individual by that person's physical features through the use of a system employing identification indicia which directly relate to those features by name or to terminology readily descriptive of those characteristics.
2. Description of Prior Art
The problem of the fraudulent use of credit cards, checks or similar items has become increasingly serious in recent years as the use of these items has increased. Credit cards are lost, stolen or forged, and often substantial purchases are made on the card by someone other than the proper bearer before it becomes possible to locate the fraudulent user of the card and before the improper use of the card is discovered by the owner and notice is given to the credit card company. In the case of a check, the merchant, clerk, waiter or bank teller is faced with the problem of making sure that the person tendering the check is either the one possessing the account upon which the check is drawn or is the person named as payee on the check. In the case of the teller of the bank originating the account, he at least can check the signature with the signature on the signature card if he has doubts. If the teller is not acquainted with that customer, this still does not take care of the possibility that the check was lost or stolen after being signed by the owner of the account. In other words, even the bank teller has no way of knowing that the person tendering the check is actually the person upon whose account the check is drawn. The problem with which merchants, clerks and waiters are faced is even more difficult. In some places, it is possible to check whether there is such an account and whether there is sufficient money in the account to cover the check. Agai, this does not take care of stolen checks. Even when the check is drawn on the establishment for the exact amount, the clerk may have no way of knowing that the person writing the check is the owner of the account.
For the reasons mentioned above, it is highly advantageous that there be some means by which a person to whom a check or credit card is tendered can readily identify whether the person tendering the card or check is the person whose name appears on the card or check. Furthermore, it is highly desirable that this means be one which does not require manipulation of the card or check and which can be done very quickly. It is also important that the identification means be one which is not readily understandable by a stranger. If the system is understandable by a stranger, it is always possible for a person who has stolen the card or check to alter the identification indicia so that they conform with his physical characteristics. Altering the identification indicia to conform with the physical characteristics of the bearer will be easily revealed upon examination of the instrument.
Numerous attempts have been made to develop means for identifying a person tendering the card or check. A typical arrangement of this type is shown in the Rand U.S. Pat. No. 1,813,257. This patent is for a charge card in which holes are punched through various portions of the card. The clerk to whom the card is tendered lays the card over another card and reads through the openings the various physical characteristics of the proper bearer of the card. The drawback to this arrangement is that the clerk must go through the obvious checking step of taking the card and placing it over another card which may or may not always be readily accessible.
Another approach to this problem is described in the Cavanaugh et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,048,697. In this patent, the picture of the proper bearer of the card, his weight, the color of his hair, the color of his eyes and his age are printed in invisible ink on the card. The card is then placed under a source of ultraviolet radiation and all of this information is available to the teller or salesperson. While this type of arrangement would satisfactorily identify the person, it presents a problem in that a source of ultraviolet radiation must be available at each location at which a card may be tendered. Furthermore, the step of placing the card under such a source of ultraviolet radiation is quite obvious and could be objected to by the person tendering the card if he or she is the proper bearer of the card.
A rather sophisticated system is shown in the Goldman et al U.S. Reissue Pat. No. Re. 30,579. In this patent, an arrangement is disclosed in which the various physical characteristics of the person tendering the card or check are punched in by the salesperson or teller along with various other information such as a driver's license number and so forth. This information is sent to a memory bank and the teller or salesperson receives back considerable information about the person and his credit record. While this system undoubtedly furnishes an excellent means of identifying an individual, it involves the use of very sophisticated equipment and again presents the drawback that the person tendering the card or check tends to be irritated at the delay and the procedure, if he or she is the correct person.
There are numerous other patents which deal with this general subject, among them are the Wittboldt U.S. Pat. No. 3,363,346, the Estrada U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,570, the McDonald U.S. Pat. No. 2,974,426, the Chittenden U.S. Pat. No. 47,798, and the Scudder U.S. Pat. No. 777,149. None of these patents, however, shows a simple system by which a person to which a document is tendered can quickly determine, without the use of auxiliary apparatus (other than a simple reference key list when necessary), whether the person tendering the document is one legitimately entitled to do so.